


The Engineer

by fezwearingjellybananas



Series: Tess Lives AU [4]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:54:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25903156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fezwearingjellybananas/pseuds/fezwearingjellybananas
Summary: Ronnie Raymond died the night of the particle accelerator. Yet Cisco Ramon arrived at Hartley's door saying Ronnie had saved him. And also that Ronnie had been on fire at the time.
Series: Tess Lives AU [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1571149
Kudos: 9
Collections: Writer's Month 2020





	The Engineer

**Author's Note:**

> Writer's Month Day 14- metamorphosis

Snart and Rory had their guns back. And now Lisa Snart had one too.

And yet Cisco Ramon was outside Hartley’s door, clutching a bag.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know where else to go.”

“What are you doing here, Cisco?”

“I need your help.”

“And you can’t ask one of those friends of yours from S.T.A.R. Labs, you had to come to me.”

“Hartley, you are my fri-”

“No, you don’t even like me, right now my friend is recovering from frostbite and third degree burns because you gave the weapons that could hurt him back to people who have tried to kill him before.”

“I’m sorry. They had my brother. Hartley, please-”

“You were a useful source of information on S.T.A.R., that’s it. If you came here looking for sympathy-”

“I came because Ronnie’s alive and he’s a metahuman.”

“Excuse me?”

“He rescued me. Snart, he froze Dante’s fingers when he realised I tried to leave bits out the Cold Gun so it wouldn’t work, he said he’d go further up his arms every time I messed him around until- until- When he left with Lisa he said he’d be back, that he had more questions to ask me, he left us with Rory and then Ronnie was there, only he was on fire and not acting like Ronnie. I dropped Dante off at the hospital and I came straight here.”

“You haven’t been back to S.T.A.R.?”

“No. I need- I- I should have gone to Caitlin-”

“But you came to me.”

“Ronnie’s my friend. He’s my friend. I was there when he died, I shut him in the accelerator, if he’s a metahuman it’s my fault and he doesn’t need to be locked in the Pipeline, he needs help-”

“So did Farooq Gibran,” Hartley said. “Why don’t you tell me what S.T.A.R. Labs did with him.”

“We were just trying to help-”

“You, perhaps,” Hartley said. “Maybe even Caitlin. Not him.”

“Doctor Wells-”

“Is a liar. What do you think went wrong with the accelerator, Cisco?”

“He said you tried to sabotage it.”

“No, I confronted him about the glaring flaws I found and I was fired for my actions, he attempted to destroy any hope of me having a career in physics again, and if it hadn’t been for Doctor Morgan I’d be unemployed and probably homeless right now.”

“Hartley, please,” Cisco said. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Come inside.”

* * *

“There have been reports of a burning man,” Iris said after she’d arrived and Hartley had explained. “Does the name Quentin Quale mean anything to you?”

“No,” Cisco said. “I could ask Caitlin? She’s Ronnie’s fiancée. But he was acting weird. Aside from being on fire. Not like himself.”

“I assume telling S.T.A.R. Labs this would be very bad,” Iris said.

“No, it’s Ronnie, they-”

“It’s a terrible idea,” Hartley said. “Cisco can tell you what you need to know.”

“About Ronnie?”

“About the Pipeline,” Iris said. “I’m working on a story.”

“That’s not a good idea. I already told Mister Bridge I’m not-”

“Cisco, if you knew it was right, you wouldn’t have told me anything,” Hartley said. “You know the Flash and I are friends.”

“Do you think he could help? If he’s a metahuman too, then he could help Ronnie. Right?”

“Once you convince him this isn’t a trap. I know you. He doesn’t. He knows you work for S.T.A.R. Labs and designed the Cold Gun specifically to kill him, and then handed it to Snart twice.”

“It wasn’t meant to kill anyone. Just to stop him. He was working with Clyde Mardon-”

“He was there to stop Clyde Mardon.”

“You designed the Cold Gun?” Iris asked. Cisco nodded. “Do you think it could help with Reverse Flash?”

“Maybe,” Hartley said. “I don’t know, he’s probably planned for that.”

“But it’s something. Are you telling the others?”

“I’ve told Doctor McGee I’m going to take the day tomorrow to help Cisco find Ronnie. The Flash didn’t seem like the best person to call until I have proof this isn’t a trap.”

“It’s not,” Cisco said. “I wouldn’t do that.”

“And I trust you, but you have no reason to trust him and he has no reason to trust you. You’ve been told he’s a criminal.”

“You said he’s a superhero though.” Cisco looked at Iris. “What’s he actually like?”

“Kind,” Iris said. “A little impulsive. But he just wants to help people. That’s why he does this. To help people.”

“You really think we can find Ronnie?”

“There’s a scorch mark outside S.T.A.R. Labs, and you said Ronnie was on fire,” Hartley said. “I think we need the C.C.T.V. footage from that night.”

“I know who can get you that,” Iris said.

* * *

“Well, no,” Barry said. “I can’t just give you anything, you work for S.T.A.R. Labs, go see if it’s on your servers.”

“He’s not going back there,” Hartley said.

“I’m not?” Cisco asked.

“You’re currently standing in C.C.P.D next to me, I don’t think going back is your best idea.”

“Oh.”

Barry looked between the two of them.

“I can’t just let you into my lab, you know that,” he said. “And I can’t just give you evidence. Is your friend in trouble?”

“Yes,” Cisco said.

“Has he been reported missing?”

“He was declared dead. He was in the accelerator when it exploded. I was there. He told me to shut the door. We were trying to stop it, he told me to shut him in to keep everyone in the building safe.”

Barry sighed.

“Wait here,” he said. “I’ll take a look.” Barry headed upstairs.

“How do you know him?” Cisco asked.

“He’s Iris’ best friend,” Hartley said.

“Oh. He’s the one who was struck by lightning, right? Doctor Wells wanted to bring him to S.T.A.R. Labs to look after him, but Doctor Morgan got there first.”

“Tess offered to help, yes.”

“That’s not how I meant it. It’s, Doctor Wells, he was really desperate to try and help. To do something right.”

“No, he wasn’t.”

“Hartley.”

“Detective Thawne,” Hartley said. Detective Thawne smiled at him. “What are you do- That’s a stupid question, how are you?”

“I’m good. How are you?”

“Yes. Well, thank you.”

“Do you need help with something?”

“Oh, no, it’s nothing, we’re just waiting for Barry. For lunch. I’m meeting Barry for lunch and he’s running late. This is Cisco.”

“Hi, Eddie,” Cisco said.

“Hey, Cisco,” Detective Thawne said. “You two know each other?”

“Hartley used to work at S.T.A.R. Labs,” Cisco said. “Before the accelerator.”

“You did?”

“Yes,” Hartley said.

“You never mentioned that.”

“It did not end well. Doctor Wells and I had something of a falling out.”

“And now you work with his ex-wife and her partner.”

“Yes. How do you know Cisco?”

“I’m head of the anti-meta taskforce, we’ve been working-”

“With S.T.A.R. Labs, of course, I forgot. Oh, look, it’s Barry.”

Barry was holding a file and frowning.

“Lunch, then?” Hartley asked as Barry stopped next to Detective Thawne.

“What?” Barry asked. “Oh, right, lunch, yes, I am a big fan of lunch. Yep. Off we go.”

“Shouldn’t you leave that here?” Eddie asked. Barry looked down at the file in his hand.

“I was just going to put it on Joe’s desk,” he said. “I won’t be long, it’s just lunch.”

“All right. See you around, Hartley. Bye, Cisco.”

“Bye,” Cisco said. He followed Hartley and Barry out of C.C.P.D. and across the road into Jitters.

“Okay,” Barry said once they’d sat down. “You need to look for Professor Martin Stein.”

“Why?” Cisco asked.

“Because he’s the one who was outside and who left the scorch mark. He was registered as a missing person, with no one having seen him that day, except I sat next to him on my train back from Starling. We had a very interesting conversation about physics and the accelerator came up and I assume someone would have made a note to talk to me sooner, but the case was handed over to General Wade Eiling.”

“He worked with Doctor Wells. I remember the name, he was an old acquaintance of Doctor Wells, but he cut all connections with him after he found out about Grodd.”

“Who is Grodd?”

“A gorilla,” Hartley said. “More importantly, we know Eiling.”

“How?” Cisco asked.

“Do you remember those bombings around November?”

“The ones linked to metahuman activity?”

“Her name was Bette,” Barry said. “She had no control and she was scared and Eiling killed her. I do not know what he wants with Professor Stein, but I know it isn’t good. I think to find your friend Ronnie you need to find Professor Stein.”

“How do we do that?” Cisco asked.

“His wife, Clarissa, lives in Leawood,” Barry said. “That seems like the best place to start. And I have something for you, Hartley.” Barry handed him a folded piece of paper. “You are not how I imagined you, Mister Ramon.”

“Cisco is fine,” Cisco said.

“I think I’ll stick with Mister Ramon. Hartley. Are you sure about this?”

“I trust him,” Hartley said. “He might have some misplaced loyalty, but I trust Cisco.”

“All right. And I trust you. I actually do need to talk to Joe about that file, I’ll see if I can find out anything else.”

“Thank you, Barry.”

* * *

Hartley drove them to Leawood.

“Your friend Barry doesn’t like me,” Cisco said.

“He doesn’t know you,” Hartley said.

“Feels a lot more than that.”

“He has his reasons.”

“He’s a metahuman, isn’t he?”

“Cisco-”

“He was struck by lightning the evening the particle accelerator blew up. The only lightning was in the storm as the accelerator was failing. And Doctor Wells wanted to bring him to S.T.A.R. Labs while he in a coma. He didn’t do that with anyone else. He’s a metahuman.”

“There are a million people in Central and Keystone combined,” Hartley said. “Every single one of them was exposed to dark matter. Not everyone was affected, but thousands of us were.”

“Us?”

“I can manipulate sound waves. And I can use that to hypnotise people. I don’t like doing that, but I can.”

“You’re the Pied Piper.”

“Yes.”

“You’re-”

“Do not call me a criminal. I know that.”

“You’re a hero, Hartley.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’ve saved people.”

“I’m just helping the Flash.”

“How?”

“By-”

“No, how did you become a metahuman? Because I’ve been talking to the people in the Pipeline, all of them should have died that night.”

“I wanted to shut the accelerator down and I designed a pair of gauntlets that would let me harness sound waves to destroy it. That plan didn’t work, and then Tess found me and offered me a job. I was going to do everything right and I tried to get people to listen to me, but Tess and Tina were the only ones who did, and he was still switching it on and it was all anyone was talking about, so I stayed at work late to work on my gloves, just for something to do with my hands to try and feel like I was doing something. I was distracted though and I’m not sure exactly, but I think maybe I activated them and blasted myself, I don’t know, but I know I have tinnitus and also control over sound waves. I suppose the hypnosis is because I wanted people to listen. If I’d just done a little more-”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Cisco said. “You tried. He didn’t listen to you. None of us noticed. I should have noticed, and Ronnie, we should have known something was wrong, but we didn’t. He did because you told him, and he turned it on anyway, and then he lied to us about you.”

“It wasn’t an accident, Cisco.”

“What are you talking about?”

“He’s not the real Doctor Wells. He’s the Reverse Flash. The one who stole the prototype from Mercury Labs, the one who tried to kill the Flash at Christmas.”

“There’s another speedster?”

“Yes.”

“You didn’t tell me.”

“Do you believe me?”

“I wouldn’t have three months ago. Now…”

“What’s changed?”

“You’re right, the Pipeline is wrong, and I have known that since the beginning, but I trusted him. I trusted that he did everything he could to keep people safe that night, but he ignored you telling him it wouldn’t be. I don’t know. I don’t want to believe that he’s the bad guy. But I went to you about Ronnie instead of him and Caitlin because I didn’t know how they’d react.”

“Caitlin would never hurt Ronnie.”

“I know. But I haven’t told them about my feelings or my dreams either, just you.”

“We never got on, did we.”

“No, you can be rude and abrasive and pompous, but you risked everything to try and do the right thing, and you ended up becoming a superhero. However you act, I know underneath it all you’re a good person.”

“So are you. You don’t hide it. You’re just likable and I was jealous because I thought you were replacing me. Maybe you did.”

“I’ve made a mistake.”

“That’s all right. You can fix it.”

“You think so?”

“Yes. Here.” Hartley passed him the paper Barry had given him with one hand. “See what you make of this.”

Cisco unfolded it. Hartley couldn’t see his face while he was focusing on driving, but he could feel the confusion.

“That’s Professor Stein,” Cisco said.

“Yes. And the orange is the accelerator.”

“Yeah. It was an energy wave though, but this is just Ronnie.”

“Barry told us to find Ronnie we need to find Professor Stein. I think we might be looking for one person.”

“Ronnie was acting weird. If that was actually Professor Stein, then he’s in Ronnie’s body, but Ronnie’s body was in the accelerator, so they’re both in the same body? How did we separate them? Can we separate them?”

“That’s a bridge we’ll cross when we get to it. For now we just need to find them.”


End file.
